Appreciate Your Stage of Life

Many of us dream of the future and think about what is to come. What do we want? How do we get there? Who will I spend it with? etc. A lot of times we are so busy planning for things to come that we forget to be in the present moments of our life. We forget to appreciate the stage of life that we are in. 

Our generation has many distractions that pull us from reality. Whether it be social media, work, text messages or phone calls, we constantly have something pulling at our attention. We get distracted from moments that we are in to be a part of someone else’s by scrolling social media, answering a question or planning a future event. I want you to ask yourself, when was the last time you took a step back and truly took a moment to appreciate your stage of life?

Whether life is in a great season or a challenging one, every stage of your life has meaning and that is cause to CELEBRATE. The hard seasons create character which makes us stronger. Good and great seasons build up our courage and help us determine our goals and what we love most about life. But no matter what season we are in, most of us are usually secretly anticipating a next step or next season of life.

I’ll go first.

I am 26 years old and have been married for 2 1/2 years. My husband and I both have stable jobs and have a good, healthy relationship. I love our apartment but I can’t wait until we have a home of our own. I would also be lying if I said I haven’t thought about babies. Being a mom has always been a dream of mine but I am constantly reminding myself to enjoy life now. Enjoy the ease of apartment living. Owning a house is fun but we will be responsible for anything that needs work done. Having a family is a dream, but we are about to switch directions and go back to school.  I need to enjoy our present life to be able to tell our future kids the stories we make today.

We are in a good stage of life. We have gone through hard times, more hard situations than I expected us to go through in our first two years of marriage, but we are in a good place and are happy together. I don’t want to wish these moments away. Is it wrong to hope for the next stages of life? No. This time of life is helping me desire the next stages with my husband. The important thing is not to rush or force it.

My advice to you

Whether you are in the same boat as I am or you are single and hoping for a relationship, trying to get pregnant, struggling with your job and hoping for that raise, or trudging through the newborn stage just waiting for the nights where they sleep through the night, my advice is don’t wish this stage away. Whether it’s hard or blissful, take a moment to breathe it all in. Remember to live your life fully and take a moment to savor the moments of it. You can always look forward and plan but you can never go back and relive a certain stage of your life.